1 Here are the words of the Teacher, the king of Jerusalem, David's son. 2 “Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher. 3 What benefit do you get for slaving away in this life? 4 People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever! 5 The sun comes up, and the sun goes down, and then rushes to its place to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns to the north. Round and round it spins, finally coming full circle. 7 Streams all flow into the sea, but the sea never becomes full. The streams return to the place from where they came. 8 Everything just keeps on going. You can't say all there is to say. You can't see all there is to see. You can't hear all there is to hear. 9 Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here. 10 There's nothing anyone can point to and say, “Look! Here's something new.” In fact it's been around for ages, long before our time. 11 The problem is we don't remember people from the past, and people in the future won't remember those who came before them. 12 I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem. 13 I decided to focus my mind to explore, using wisdom, everything that happens here on earth. This is a tough assignment that God has given people to keep them busy! 14 I examined everything people do here on earth, and discovered that it's all so temporary—trying to understand it is like trying to pin down the wind! 15 You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there. 16 I thought to myself, “I've become very wise, wiser than all the kings of Jerusalem before me. My mind has gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind. 18 For with great wisdom comes great frustration. The greater the knowledge, the greater the pain.
Ecclesiastes · Free Bible Version
Ecclesiastes 1 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ecclesiastes 12:8–10; Ecclesiastes 1:12; Ecclesiastes 7:27; 1 Kings 11:42–43; 2 Peter 2:5
- 2 Psalm 144:4; Romans 8:20; Ecclesiastes 5:10; Psalm 39:5–6; Ecclesiastes 12:8
- 3 Ecclesiastes 3:9; Ecclesiastes 5:16; Ecclesiastes 2:22; Mark 8:36–37; Ecclesiastes 2:11
- 4 Psalm 104:5; Zechariah 1:5; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Matthew 24:35; Psalm 119:90–91
- 5 Psalm 42:1; Habakkuk 3:11; Psalm 19:4–6; Psalm 104:19–23; Joshua 10:13–14
- 6 John 3:8; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Job 37:9; Psalm 107:29; Job 37:17
- 7 Job 38:10–11
- 8 Proverbs 27:20; Matthew 11:28; Ecclesiastes 4:8; Ecclesiastes 5:10–11; Psalm 63:5
- 9 Ecclesiastes 3:15; Ecclesiastes 6:10; Revelation 21:1; Ecclesiastes 2:12; Ecclesiastes 7:10
- 10 Acts 7:51; Matthew 23:30–32; Luke 17:26–30; Matthew 5:12; 2 Timothy 3:8
- 11 Ecclesiastes 2:16; Psalm 9:6; Ecclesiastes 9:5; Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 41:22–26
- 12 Ecclesiastes 1:1; 1 Kings 4:1–19
- 13 Ecclesiastes 3:10; Genesis 3:19; 1 Timothy 4:15; Ecclesiastes 8:16–17; Ecclesiastes 1:17
- 14 Ecclesiastes 2:11; Ecclesiastes 2:17; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Ecclesiastes 6:9; Ecclesiastes 1:17–18
- 15 Ecclesiastes 7:12–13; Matthew 6:27; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Isaiah 40:4; Lamentations 3:37
- 16 Ecclesiastes 2:9; 1 Kings 4:30; 1 Kings 10:7; 1 Kings 3:12–13; Hebrews 5:14
- 17 Ecclesiastes 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Ecclesiastes 7:23–25; Ecclesiastes 2:10–12; Ecclesiastes 1:13–14
- 18 Job 28:28; Ecclesiastes 12:12–13; 1 Corinthians 3:18–20; Ecclesiastes 7:16; James 3:13–17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"Do I not weep much the more?" For, "He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." The more I long for what is not here, do I not so much the more groan for it until it comes?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
But thou canst not; for, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Let us go to the tombs; show me thy father; show me thy wife.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)